The Morass of No Hope: The Egyptian TV drama shows women’s power derived from Men

“Jane Eyre” is a magnificent novel written by “Charlotte Bronte”, it was published on 16 October 1847, and is widely considered to be one of the first feminist novels, as it tackled very early the idea of woman being on the same-equal footage with the man.

In the eternal story, the emotionally strong Jane, resists her own love for her boss, until she becomes of comparable social and financial state in order not to be inferior to him, begging God to “save her” from her own love, and the story beautifully ends when she achieves her own goals, and they become equal.

Thereby, it is astonishing that although women have achieved a good portion of their political and economic rights, yet that very “spirit of Jane Eyre” is not a global-accepted concept, for that until now, the common norm in the media is that the woman is vulnerable and desperately weak waiting for her “rescue man” to save her, even the stories of the warrior woman such as “Cat woman” and the 1990s series of “Zeina”, didn’t show a female figure exerts her powers over the man by helping him out from his life obstacles.

The “savior complex” and women emotional vulnerability

The “savior complex” is deeply seated in the psychological literature since the dawn of the human psyche was explored. It entails a party who is needy and vulnerable full of insecurities waiting for a stronger figure to rescue the weaker one from life misery in an attempt to have a fulfilling life of safety and security, even if this includes the “machismo-sadistic” dialectic, based on various thinkers suggestions, perhaps their best is Erich Fromm, stating that this leads to mental health issues, if aggravated.

This very concept of women’s inferiority is what we as parents feed to our children since youth represented in the Disney stories of the sleeping princess, such as; Snow White and Rapanzel, so that the woman has to be in a “state of sleep”, hoping to find the macho alpha man who is to save her from her misery in life.

Therefore, the idea of the savior complex permeates our daily lives across various life spheres, but we have to stop its floods, when it comes to idolizing men against women, as the trend flows in all Disney stories, because girls should be educated that she is her own savior, since no one saves anyone from his misery and life insecurities.

This common thread of woman’s dependence is found in all series in Ramadan 2017. Perhaps their worst in abundance, is “la totfe2 al shams”, again the common motto of “Tamer Habib” emotional engagements of women “begging men to love them” and not “abandon” them even, if this is against many moral values, such as the case of the youngster falling in love with her married tutor.

Secondly, “wahet ghoroub” series, dealt with the imprisonment of the woman “Catherine”, whom her neurotic husband always seeks to confine her to the house, neglecting her plea that she is almost dead when alone, while he coldly replies…”then die, but far away from my zone of influence”, besides his serial unfaithfulness to her, which are awkwardly accepted by a western woman, even if this was in the 19th century, but a woman who leaves her homeland to pursue her dream in Egypt, is never such vulnerable to accept her husband abuse “under the name of love”, as the series prove.

Thirdly, the top rated series, the highest price or “a3la se3r” starring Nelly Kareem, features the common thread of the women’s competition to win the man, known as “the dandy prey”, at the expense at their friendship, so that both are willing to align their lives around his own satisfaction. In fact, this idea of competing over a man throughout the series, seeks to implant in the people’s consciousness that pursuing a man is a matter worthy of being a life-goal per se, as if the man is the sun, and all of us are orbiting in his own solar system.

Moreover, life’s sweetness or “halawet Donia” features a terminally-ill woman is doomed in her gloom upon her lover’s abandonment for her illness instead of showing support, while she shines in glow when she finds another man “to fill her life”, giving her hope to live as if the man is her compass.

When will the drama fight the patriarchy and stop promoting it?

Regardless of the creativity and aesthetics presented by all of the above mentioned series teams, yet we highly condemn the consistent line of thought of the portrayal of women’s vulnerability, even if this led to her emotional and physical abuse by her partner, because by the accumulation of time, women get accustomed to their own humiliation.

Love is a broader concept, crowned by the idea women self-love including having certain dreams and goals in life which is a right for both sexes, regardless of having a partner.